Late run pushes Rochester past Judges, 77-73

Late run pushes Rochester past Judges, 77-73

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Brandeis senior Derek Retos (No. Attleboro, Mass./Brimmer and May School) hit four more 3-pointers tonight, but host Rochester closed the game on a 10-2 run over the final 3:20 to give the Yellowjackets a 77-73 University Athletic Association (UAA) victory in the Palestra. The loss drops the Judges to 12-11, 4-8 in the UAA, while the win moves UR to 9-14, 3-9 UAA. 

Brandeis owned a 43-40 lead at halftime, but Rochester scored the first five points of the second half, going ahead on a Jared Seltzer 3-pointer. The Yellowjackets maintained that lead until just over five minutes remained in regulation, when Brandeis senior Ben Bartoldus (Hillsborough, N.H./Proctor Acad.) hit a pair of free throws. The teams traded the lead at the foul line on their next two possessions before Retos connected on his fourth trifecta of the game and the 217th of his career to give Brandeis a 71-67 lead with 3:58 left.

Rochester's Nate Vernon came up huge for the home team after that. On UR's next possession, he grabbed two offensive rebounds before hitting a 3-pointer from the right corner at the 3:20 mark that got the 'Jackets back within one. Brandeis senior Alex Stoyle (Goffstown, N.H./Tilton Acad.) answered with a jumper just 16 seconds later, but that would be the Judges' final bucket, putting them up, 73-70, with 3:04 to go. On Rochester's next chance, they once again pulled down two offensive boards, and again Vernon made the Judges pay from the right corner, tying the game at 73-73 with 2:24 to go. 

The teams traded misses on their next trips. Brandeis got a key turnover on a steal by Stoyle, but they were unable to convert. Rochester did not let their opportunity get away, as Kevin Sheehy scored what proved to be the game-winning layup with 1:34 on the clock. Brandeis called timeout to set up a play, but UR forced the Judges into a bad shot, and Sheehy got the rebound. Brandeis was able to answer with a defensive stand of their own, and after a timeout, the Judges' offense ran to perfection, but senior Gabriel Moton's (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg) lay-up was off the mark. Vernon collected another rebound and hit two free throws to ice the final margin of victory. 

Brandeis had three players score in double figures, led by Retos's 16 points in 29 minutes off the bench. He hit 6-of-10 overall, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. Stoyle finished with 12 points and  team-highs seven rebounds and four assists.Moton added 11 points and five boards.

Vernon led all players with 20 points, eight coming in the final decisive stretch. He also had seven rebounds. Tyler Sankes came off the bench for the home team to record a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Also reaching double figures for UR was Mack Montague, who scored all of his 12 points in the first half, and Selter, who had 10. Rochester owned a 40-30 edge in rebounding, including 14-6 on the offensive glass. That led to a 14-3 edge in second-chance points, culminated with the two big 3-pointers by Vernon off offensive rebounds.

Brandeis is back in action on Sunday afternoon at 12 noon at Emory University. Rochester hosts NYU at the same time. Both are UAA games.